NCAA assignment for Elon men: Road repeat

Published: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 at 12:34 AM.

ELON — Knowing it was in the NCAA Tournament field, the
Elon
University
men’s soccer team was anticipating playing on its home field to start the 48-team tournament.

Instead, there was little joy Monday when the
Phoenix
appeared on the bracket opposite Coastal Carolina, requiring a road game Thursday night for a rematch of a first-round game a year ago.

“We’ve got to prepare to go on the road in 48 hours,” Elon coach Darren Powell said. “This is a familiar draw for us. What’s good (for) our preparation, we’re quite familiar with the routine.”

The Elon / Coastal Carolina winner will play Sunday at
Wake
Forest
(11-3-5), which received a bye and the No. 15 overall seed. One of
Wake
Forest
’s losses came last month at Elon, though the Demon Deacons also handed
Maryland
its only defeat of the season.

Defending national champion
North Carolina
was assigned the No. 9 overall seed. The Tar Heels receive a first-round bye and will play at 5 p.m. Sunday against the winner of Thursday’s Old Dominion /
Maryland-Baltimore
County
game.

Charlotte
, which was the 2011 national runner-up and a 2-0 loser Sept. 22 at Elon, opens at home against Alabama-Birmingham, with the winner going to
Georgetown
.

A year ago, Coastal Carolina eliminated Elon 4-3. The Chanticleers (18-2-2) also won a non-conference game by a 2-1 score this year against the visiting
Phoenix
(15-4-2), which is unbeaten in its last seven games.

ELON — Knowing it was in the NCAA Tournament field, the ElonUniversity men’s soccer team was anticipating playing on its home field to start the 48-team tournament.

Instead, there was little joy Monday when the Phoenix appeared on the bracket opposite Coastal Carolina, requiring a road game Thursday night for a rematch of a first-round game a year ago.

“We’ve got to prepare to go on the road in 48 hours,” Elon coach Darren Powell said. “This is a familiar draw for us. What’s good (for) our preparation, we’re quite familiar with the routine.”

The Elon / Coastal Carolina winner will play Sunday at WakeForest (11-3-5), which received a bye and the No. 15 overall seed. One of WakeForest’s losses came last month at Elon, though the Demon Deacons also handed Maryland its only defeat of the season.

Defending national champion North Carolina was assigned the No. 9 overall seed. The Tar Heels receive a first-round bye and will play at 5 p.m. Sunday against the winner of Thursday’s Old Dominion / Maryland-BaltimoreCounty game.

Charlotte, which was the 2011 national runner-up and a 2-0 loser Sept. 22 at Elon, opens at home against Alabama-Birmingham, with the winner going to Georgetown.

A year ago, Coastal Carolina eliminated Elon 4-3. The Chanticleers (18-2-2) also won a non-conference game by a 2-1 score this year against the visiting Phoenix (15-4-2), which is unbeaten in its last seven games.

Elon officials put in bids for home games. At the very least, the Phoenix was expecting a home game this week, if not a bye into the second round.

Powell said the enthusiasm surrounding the team this season had generated interest. The team won the Southern Conference regular-season and tournament titles.

“The hope was maybe get a home game and continue that excitement,” he said. “ … That’s out of our control. We respect those decisions. We’re in the national tournament.”

Elon is listed No. 22 in the NCAA’s Ratings Percentage Index after winning two games on a neutral field last week to capture its second consecutive Southern Conference Tournament title.

With that, the Phoenix was holding out hope for a top-16 spot that would be accompanied by a first-round bye. Instead, it didn’t even land one of 32 home games assigned across the first two rounds.

Senior midfielder Gabe Latigue, who was voted the Most Outstanding Player in the conference tournament, said it was disappointing that the RPI listing didn’t translate into a home game.

“We’ll work this week to prepare for it,” Latigue said. “We’ve played them a lot the last couple years and we’ll be looking for a better result than we’ve had.”

Elon holds a 7-1 road record, with the lone loss Sept. 14 at Coastal Carolina. This will mark the third game for the Phoenix in Conway, S.C., in less than a full calendar year.

“It would be nice to play some other teams,” defender Nick Butterly said.